Professional seeking information from St Helens children's social care?

Guidance page for Children's social care information request form

If you are worried about the safety of a child in St Helens or are requesting a service from St Helens children's social care then please do not complete this form and return to the previous page- if you have safeguarding concerns for a child in St Helens you need to complete the Children's social care service request form.

Information sharing

Information Sharing Advice for practitioners providing safeguarding services for children, young people, parents and carers has been developed by the Department of Education in May 2024. This guidance should be considered by any professional seeking to share or obtain information.

Information sharing in a safeguarding context means the appropriate and secure exchange of personal information, between practitioners and other individuals with a responsibility for children, in order to keep them safe from harm.

Information sharing is essential for identifying patterns of behaviour, or circumstances in a child's life that may be evidence that they are at risk of harm or are being harmed and need some form of support or protection.

This includes but is not limited to:

• child abuse, neglect or exploitation
• situations where timely supportive intervention could prevent concerns about a
• child's wellbeing from escalating
• when a child is at risk of going missing or has gone missing
• when multiple children appear linked to the same risk
• where there may be multiple local authorities and agencies or organisations involved in the care of a child's care

Why data protection legislation does not prevent information sharing

Data protection legislation (the Data Protection Act 2018 (the DPA 2018) and UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) does not prevent the sharing of information for the purposes of safeguarding children, when it is necessary, proportionate and justified to do so. In fact, data protection legislation provides a framework which enables information sharing in that context. The first and most important consideration is always whether sharing information is likely to support the safeguarding of a child.

The importance of sharing information with colleagues outside of your agency or organisation

It is likely that practitioners working in different agencies or organisations that have contact with children and their families will only have a partial view of what is happening in their lives. Sharing information helps to build up a fuller picture and is therefore an intrinsic part of any practitioner's job when working with children and families. Similarly, it is also important to share information with agencies that may be formulating a risk assessment about whether a particular individual poses a risk to children.

The most important consideration is whether the sharing of information is likely to support the safeguarding of a child

The justification for sharing information to safeguard a child

Sharing information for safeguarding purposes can be justified solely based on preventing harm to a child.

The sharing of this information is not dependant on any thresholds for intervention. For example, it is not necessary for a formal process under section 17 or section 47 of the Children Act 1989 to be invoked in order for information to be shared, provided that the sharing is necessary for organisations and agencies to safeguard a child at possible risk of harm. It is only through sharing information that agencies or organisations and practitioners build a richer picture of the day-to-day life of the child and family they are working with.

Knowing the amount of information to share

The sharing of personal information must be necessary, fair and proportionate - only share the personal information that is adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary to protect a child from harm. Requests to share information should explain clearly what is required and why, clarifying any meaning or terminology where needed to avoid misinterpretation or misunderstanding. If in doubt about what information is needed, always seek clarification from the requesting agency or organisation.

Information seeking

Practitioners should be proactive and should seek out relevant information from other practitioners and agencies or organisations to build an accurate picture of a child and family's life. Effective information seeking enables pieces of information to be shared, gathered, and triangulated across agencies or organisations working with a child and family. Practitioners should be professionally curious about the information they hold, and the information other practitioners may hold about a child. This may involve checking with agencies to build a fuller understanding of a family's context or the risks of harm. You should be responsive to practitioners seeking information and share relevant information with practitioners when it supports the safeguarding of a child.

If you are seeking information about a child or family that you are aware is already open to Children's social care, or if you are unsure if this is the case, then please contact the contact cares team by emailing adultandchildrenteam@sthelens.gov.uk

If you are seeking information about a child or family who is not currently open to Children's social care in St Helens, then please complete the below form.

Please ensure you attach any supporting documentation or any documentation you wish to be completed and returned to you

Professionals who we expect will need to complete the information sharing request form include:

• Social workers from other Local Authorities, to inform their current assessment of risk
• Social workers or early help workers from other Local Authorities, to inform their current plan of support
• Professionals within St Helens who want to understand the information held by St Helens Children's Social Care, in order to consider if there are current safeguarding concerns for a child or children e.g midwifery
• Professionals within the neurodevelopmental pathway to inform their decision making at panel
• Probation and Prison staff to inform a risk assessments of a person who possibly poses a risk to children
• Ofsted

Tips for Completing the online form

• Please ensure you provide all relevant details of the family members you are seeking information regarding including full name, address and Date of birth as this will make the processing of your request quicker and assist in ensuring you receive all the relevant information you require
• Please provide a rationale for requesting the information and a summary of why you need this information considering the above guidance. Without this we will be unable to progress your request and this could lead to delay in sharing the information.

Link to the online information sharing request form

Once completed the form will be sent to the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) who will aim to respond to your request within 5 working days.